Tears of Blood :
by Carnival of Madness
Summary: It's September 4th, your first day in your new school. Being the shy person that you are, making friends is on top of your priority list. But when you discover Karkat Vantas, a troll from a world called Alternia, also attends the school, things may start to heat up ... One-shot. Fluff. School!Stuck. Rated T for fluffy romance. Karkat x Reader.


_A pretty stupid one-shot I started the other day in the school library. Eh, I guess I have plans for where this is going to go, but as of right now, I think I'll just improvise. Feedback would be greatly appriciated!_

A sweet smelling breeze drifts through the open window as you stare out into the expanse of skyscrapers, covered by a sky of blue-grey mist. It was the first day of the Autumn term in your new High School, and you'd never been more terrified in your short and mundane life.

Four more introductions to go before it was your turn. You'd heard about this since your nursery school life, you stood up, spoke, and sat back down. Simple. For most people.

Ever since you were four years old, you'd been the shyest girl in your class. Your self-esteem was incredibly low, and your skills were limited in most subjects, with the exception of English and History.

"… Next up, [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME]."

You stood up in a fluster, almost tripping over as you kicked your seat backwards. Releasing a small apology, you turned quickly to take a look at the classmate behind you who'd been left in your confused wake.

Your jaw almost dropped at the sight of him.

Two stubby orange horns poked their way through a mass of messy, jet-black hair. His skin was neither white nor black, strangely. It was a sooty-grey colour, with piercing yellow rimmed eyes that seemed to stare right through you. His finger tapped his desk in annoyance, showcasing razor-sharp yellow nails that seemed sharp enough to rip your skull out with a single slash.

"I'm … Sorry." You mumbled, awestruck by his inhuman appearance.

The boy grunted in annoyance, snapping his head to the left and waving his hand, signalling for you to continue with your bland and mediocre introduction.

Nodding in agreement, you spun back round to face your amused class, receiving small giggles from some of the popular girls in front of you, mixed with consolation from a small gang of females to your left.

Shuffling your feet slightly, you mumbled something incoherent, sigh, repeating yourself, louder this time.

"My name is [FIRST NAME] … Uh, let's see … I'm [AGE] years old … And … I like music." You muttered, staring down at your twiddling thumbs.

Your form teacher, a tall, broad man with jelled-back hair and dark shades , chuckled slightly, signalling with his hand for you to sit back down.

Gulping, you followed his instruction, and settled back into your uncomfortable wooden seat. A faint blush trickled along your cheeks, embarrassment flooding over your shaking limbs. _What a wonderful first impression … _You thought to yourself, letting out a small breath of air.

"Well, I guess next, it's …" The teacher raised a thick eyebrow, glaring through the jet black shades at the boy behind you. "Sorry, your name isn't on the list … Mr, uh …?"

Grumbling, the strange boy stood up, kicking his chair back with more accuracy than you could accomplish in your lifetime. He shrugged his sharp hands into his blazer pockets, glaring back at the teacher with more hatred than you thought possible.

"Dumbass …" He grumbled, moving his gaze around the classroom, classmate to classmate, until finally, his piercing eyes settled on your own quivering pupils.

You blushed under his heavy gaze, and turned away shyly.

"My name …" His voice was louder than expected, and dead silence fell across the awed classroom as he spoke. "… is Karkat Vantas." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, closing and opening one eye in deep thought.

"I'm six solar sweeps old," He coughed before continuing, "and only thing I'm really interested in is surfing the internet. There, that's all you nooksuckers need to know." And with that, he dragged his chair back under him and slumped into it like a potato in a sack.

Blinking slowly, the teacher cleared his throat and jumped down from the stand, landing with a thud on the polished marble floor.

"Well … Alrighty then!" He chuckled slightly, and scanned the class curiously. "Well, you cool kids can call me Mr. Strider. Dirk Strider." He grinned, showcasing rows of perfectly white teeth.

You settled back in your chair, a bemused expression clear on your face. It was rare to hear a teacher introduce themselves using their first name, let alone have such a cosy and friendly façade on them during a class introduction.

"Dumbass …" Your ears pricked up to the sound of someone talking behind you, and you shyly looked over your shoulder at Karkat, who glared back with as fierce a fire as ever.

"… I'm sorry, I thought you were referring to me …" You whisper, smiling slightly. It faded almost as soon as it had appeared, however, as Karkat's glare was simply too fierce for anyone to stay smiling for very long.

"Well I wasn't, so piss off." The sheer ferocity of his tone sent a shiver down your spine. You could almost feel the pure anger hidden inside his words, and it was enough to make you turn back around without time for the brain to signal your limbs to move.

Before very long, the bell cut through the dead silence in the packed classroom, and Mr. Strider gave the signal for everyone to file out of the classroom in a neat and orderly (or, as he had put it "cool and hip") fashion.

Of course, being a classroom full of hormonal, exhilarated teenagers, their instinct told them to evacuate the classroom like a herd of charging bulls.

Being the shy tortoise that you were, you waited until almost everyone had left, leaving turned over tables and smashed welcoming vases in their wake.

You raised an eyebrow at the destruction, sighing heavily and pulling your heavy shoulder bag over your head.

"… You didn't scream." You raised your head up to see staring directly through you, propping himself up on one elbow and grinning. "You. Didn't. Scream."

Giving him a bemused look, you mumble what sounds like a reply. A small pink blush danced across your face as you realised the pitch of your tone, and you repeated yourself quickly.

"What do you mean?"

"He means you didn't scream when you saw _me, _dumbass … " A harsh voice behind you scorned. You looked over your shoulder is bewilderment, shocked so see Karkat pulling his heavy rucksack from under his desk and tossing it over his shoulder. With all the commotion, you'd assumed he'd left with the rest of the peculiar crowd.

"No … Why would I have?" You ask, confused.

Karkat rolled his strangely coloured eyes, taking a few steps towards the door. He stopped for a second, looking at you with intense power. He sighed while pointing to his stubby horns, then moving his lanky finger to point at his soot-coloured skin.

"O-oh, that …" You mumble, fiddling with your shoulder strap. "Well, I didn't want to ask … In case it was a touchy subject, or, maybe a disease or something—"

"I'm a troll, you idiot."

Annoyed after being cut off in mid speech, you were out to mumble a retort, but the utter obsceneness of what he had just said stopped you. You stared rudely at the stranger in front of you, bemused and truly terrified of what he'd just said.

Deciding to brush it off, you laughed slightly. However, the stern look on your face gave you away, and Mr. Strider, still watching you, chuckled.

Karkat groaned, taking another step towards the door.

"Stop laughing," he demanded, his back turned to you. "I'm not joking."

And with that, Karkat threw open the oak door, scowled at the destruction behind him, and stepped out into the havoc of the school's lunch hour.


End file.
